When the retail price of diesel was higher than the actual world price of crude oil, she pointed out, the price difference will become additional income for the government.
She urged the Domestic Trade, Cooperatives and Consumerism Minister to explain why the government increased diesel price by 10 sen.
“The government must explain why diesel price went up by 10 sen to RM1.70 per litre from August 1, 2016. The current price of industrial diesel is only RM1.39 per litre.”
The average diesel price was RM1.60 per litre last month. However, industrial diesel was sold at RM1.45 per litre. “If the retail price of diesel was based on the monthly average world price of crude oil in July, diesel price should have gone down in August,” argued Teo. “The government has never failed to ‘surprise’ the rakyat.”
As the government has revealed in Parliament on April 7, 2015, said the MP, it has collected RM937 million in the first four months since the managed float system in December 2014. “The government should be completely honest with the rakyat.”
She has questions:
How much profit did the government collect until today?
How much hidden petrol tax has been paid by the people since the managed float system?
Subsidies for RON95 and diesel were scrapped in December 2014 in the wake of falling global fuel prices. Currently, retail prices of petrol and diesel are fixed according to a managed float system, based on the monthly average world price of crude oil.